Thiruvanathapuram has become of the many cities in India, which has started to ban plastic carry bags in the city. Health officials of the corporation issued notices before the ban on the sale of plastic carry bags. They cited the council decision in January, and seize the bags stored by various retailers, as well as, wholesale dealers. The city authorities visited shops and started serving warning notices for a month after the ban. Once the notice period ended, the corporation resorted to stricter measures like levying penalty from shopkeepers and the cancellation of their licences, in a way rendering the conduct of business illegal.

Penalty will be from April

The mayor said that penalty will be levied from April, 2017. Licenses for shops will renewed next year only if owners have complied with the ban. The penalty will be finalized later, officials said. Health officials said that shopkeepers were instructed to clear their existing stock within a period of two months. The health wing would seize fresh stock. For that purpose, twelve health squads have been formed to cover shops in total 25 health circles.
The civic body has also considered legal challenges that may arise during the seizure of plastic carry bags. According to deputy mayor Rakhi Ravikumar said that the corporation’s decision to ban plastic carry bags, regardless of micron size, must have legal support.
The civic body will also be setting up a counter at the main office where cloth, as well as, paper bags will be distributed. People coming to main office with plastic carry bags will be instructed to leave their plastic bags at the counter. Cloth bags will be given in return. Warning boards will be placed within corporation limits along with more cloth bag distribution counters. This plan will be executed by the corporation authorities with the support of cloth bag manufacturing units.

As more & more regions & cities of the country adopts to this method, environmentally friendly bag manufacturers producing bags of environmental materials like jute, cotton- canvas & juco are likely to benefit from it.

In a similar fashion, another hazardous material-plastic slipper should also be banned for making a safer Earth for the future generations. Here also the alternative is the same- eco-friendly slippers.